When I asked Miss North Dakota-USA Audra Mari to do a “Cooking with the Stars” segment with me, I figured she’d make a salad. After all, not only was the tall brunette first runner-up in the Miss USA pageant, she’s a sometimes swimsuit model.

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You’d think salad would be a mainstay. Not this time. Miss Mari, bless her heart, chose to show us how to make the ooey, gooiest dessert from her family cookbook.

“My mom makes this all the time,” she says.

So Mari grew up eating this and she looks like that? Okay, count me in.

Full disclosure: Mari doesn’t eat this every day and says she loaded up on lean protein and veggies leading up the pageant. Darn. I knew it was too good to be true.

Mix cream cheese, 1 cup sugar and vanilla in a large bowl. Open one package crescent rolls and spread out dough in a cake pan (we used 9 by 13, but a square pan would work too). Spread half cream cheese mixture on top of dough.

Open the other package of crescent rolls and layer them on top of the cream cheese mixture. Spread the remaining cream cheese mixture on the dough. Top with melted butter, cinnamon and ½ cup sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. (A square pan might take a bit longer).